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BRIEFING PAPER
Number 7393, 17 July 2018
Higher education By Paul Bolton
funding in England
Inside:
1. Background
2. Public spending on higher
education in England
3. Funding for institutions from the
funding councils
www.parliament.uk/commons-library | intranet.parliament.uk/commons-library | papers@parliament.uk | @commonslibraryNumber 7393, 17 July 2018 2
Contents
Summary 3
1. Background 5
1.1 ‘2012’ reforms 5
1.2 Comprehensive Spending Review 2010 and later spending rounds 6
1.3 Summer Budget 2015 and Spending Review/Autumn Statement 2015 6
1.4 Prime Minister's October 2017 announcement 7
2. Public spending on higher education in England 8
2.1 Direct funding through the funding council 8
Teaching 10
Research 11
Other 11
2.2 Student loans 12
Subsidy elements of loans and loan accounting 12
Estimates of the resource costs of loans from 2012 13
Impact of loans on the national debt 15
2.3 Student support 16
2.4 Overall public spending 16
Up to 2018-19 17
3. Funding for institutions from the funding councils 17
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Cover page image copyright: Spread of £50 notes by Bank of England. Licensed
under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 / image cropped.3 Higher education funding in England
Summary
The Government raised the cap on tuition fees for new student to £9,000 in 2012/13 and
cut most ongoing direct public funding for teaching in England. This shifted the balance
of higher education funding further away from the state and further towards the
individual who benefits.
In his summer Budget 2015 the Chancellor announced the biggest changes to student
finance since 2012:
• Maintenance grants will end for FUNDING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS
new students from 2016/17 and be
replaced by loans. HEFCE Fees 12
• A consultation on freezing the
student loan repayment threshold 10
for five years
• Allowing universities offering ‘high 8
teaching quality’ to increase fees in
line with inflation from 2017 6
• A review of the discount rate
applied to the accounting 4
treatment of loans.
After consultation the Government 2
decided to freeze the repayment
threshold for all post-2012 borrowers. 0
2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18
The discount rate used for the public
accounting of loans was reduced from 8
HEFCE FUNDING
£ billion 2015-16 prices
2.2% to 0.7%. These changes were
6 Teaching Research Capital Other
expected to result in savings to
current spending when grants are 4
ended, and a substantial cut in the
subsidy element of loans. 2
On 1 October 2017 the Prime Minister 0
announced a number of changes to 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19
these policies: The fee cap would be
frozen in 2018-19, the repayment threshold would rise to £25,000 and a there would be a
review of the student finance system. The Department for Education subsequently
confirmed that the freeze on the repayment threshold would also be removed.
On 19 February 2018, the Prime Minister announced that there would be a “wide-ranging
review into post-18 education” led by Philip Augar. The review is to look at how future
students will contribute to the cost of their studies, including “the level, terms and
duration of their contribution.” More detail on the review can be found at: Review of Post-
18 Education and Funding
Students can take out publicly subsided loans to pay for tuition fees. Lending to students
has increased substantially since 2012 and is expected to be more than £15 billion this
year, compared less than £4 billion which goes to universities through the funding
council. The Government’s decision to replace maintenance grants with loans means thatNumber 7393, 17 July 2018 4
even more support for higher education will come through loans rather than direct
spending.
The subsidy element of loans is not included in the Government’s main measure of public
spending on services and hence does not count towards the fiscal deficit. The total face
value of loans do count towards the national debt.
There is considerable uncertainty about the final size of the subsidy element of loans and
the Government’s estimate of it increased sharply after the 2012 reforms were first
announced. Subsequent changes to loan terms and accounting methods are expected to
reduce the size of this subsidy to an even greater degree. These calculations affect the
size of any saving in public expenditure and the extent of the shift in costs from the state
to the individual beneficiary.
This paper looks at recent levels of funding for higher education in England, particularly
the period from 2015 onwards. It builds on and replaces Changes to higher education
funding and student support in England from 2012/13 and HE in England from 2012:
Funding and finance which looked in detail at the impact of the 2012 reforms and
subsequent announcements on graduates, universities and public spending.
The briefing paper Higher education student numbers looks at how student numbers have
changed over time, gives some insight into the impact of the 2012 higher education
reforms on different types of students and courses and summarises the last evidence on
applications. Readers may also be interested in the following briefing papers:
• Prime Minister's announcement on changes to student funding
• Higher education finance statistics
• Student loan statistics
• Tuition fee statistics
• The value of student maintenance support
• Support for postgraduate students in England
• Higher education tuition fees in England5 Higher education funding in England
1. Background
1.1 ‘2012’ reforms
The Independent Review of Higher Education Funding – the Browne
Report 1- was published in October 2010. It made recommendations on
0F
the future funding and organisation of the higher education sector and
on student finance. The main recommendations directly connected to
funding were:
• Remove direct public funding for most undergraduate courses and
retain a much smaller amount for higher cost subjects.
• Remove the cap from tuition fees. Institutions would keep all the income
up to £6,000 per year and share any more with Government.
• Extend student loans to part-time students
• Increase the loans repayment threshold from £15,000 to £21,000 and
increase it in line with earnings in the future.
• Introduce a real interest rate on loans for those earning above the
threshold equal to the Government’s cost of borrowing (inflation plus The 2012 reforms
2.2%) and ensure no one repaying their loan sees its real value increase. increased the cap
• Extend the write-off period of loans from 25 to 30 years on fees to £9,000.
• Increase student numbers by 10% to remove excess demand Student loans
increased to pay for
The report concluded that, with static number of students, the reforms
this but the reforms
would eventually cut core public spending on undergraduate study by
made repayments
around £1.8 billion or almost 30%, graduates would repay more (55%
more ‘progressive’
more with fees of £8,000) but additional repayments would come from
higher earning graduates and institutions could see an increase in their
income 2 with fees of around £7,000 or more (10% with fees of £8,000). 3
1F 2F
The Government announced its plans for reform of higher education
and student finance in November 2010. 4 These followed many of the
3F
recommendations set out in the Browne Report. The major differences
with an impact on funding were:
• A cap on fees of £9,000, no levy on fees above this level, but obligations
on the institution to spend more on access for disadvantaged students
• A real interest of 3% above inflation for graduates earning above
£41,000 (in 2016) with a sliding scale rising from 0% (real) at £21,000
1 Securing a sustainable future for higher education –An independent review of
higher education funding & student finance
2 Income from these fees and teaching grants only
3 ibid. pp43-44
4 Reform for higher education and student finance, BIS (3 November 2010)Number 7393, 17 July 2018 6
• Annual uprating of both thresholds in line with growth in average
earnings 5
Funding for higher
4F
• No growth in student number
education was cut
dramatically in the
1.2 Comprehensive Spending Review 2010 2010 CSR as
and later spending rounds funding reforms
shifted the balance
The Comprehensive Spending Review 2010 (CSR) set out the from taxpayers to
parameters for public spending over the period 2011-12 to 2014-15. graduates
Total resources for higher education (excluding research) was to fall
from £7.1 billion in 2010-11 to £4.2 billion in 2014-15; 6 a cut of 41% in
5F
Further smaller
cash terms and 44% in real terms. 7 6F
scale cuts were
announced in 2013
The Spending Round 2013 announced a series of further savings from
alongside the
the higher education budget –the continued cuts in funding for
decision to remove
teaching as the 2012 system applies to more students, freezing grants,
the cap on student
requiring HEFCE to make additional savings and cutting access
numbers
spending.8 Autumn Statement 2013 announced the cap on student
.
numbers would be raised in 2014-15 and lifted in 2015-16 which would
increase spending compared to what it would otherwise have been. The
Government expected to fund this through the sale of some older
student loan debt.
1.3 Summer Budget 2015 and Spending
Review/Autumn Statement 2015
In his Summer Budget 2015 the Chancellor announced that
maintenance grants would end for new students from 2016/17 and be
replaced by loans. He also announced consultations on freezing the
repayment threshold for five years, allowing some universities to
increase fees in line with inflation from 2017 and a review of the
discount rate applied to the accounting treatment of loans. 9 These are23F
the biggest changes to student finance since the 2012 reforms.
The Government published a consultation on freezing the loan
repayment threshold in July 2015. This set out two options for change:
• Option 1 (preferred): Freeze the threshold at £21,000 from April 2016
for all existing and new borrowers for five years. Reviews the threshold
from April 2021
5 The initial proposal was for five-yearly upratings.
6 BIS news release 20 October 2010, The Department for Business Innovation and Skills
Spending Review Settlement
7 Adjusted using March 2015 GDP deflators and OBR projections.
8 Spending Round 2013, HM Treasury
9 Summer Budget 2015, HM Treasury7 Higher education funding in England
• Option 2: Freeze the threshold for new borrowers only for five years
2015 saw the
from April 2020
announcement of
The consultation estimated that option 1 would generate £3.2 billion the biggest reform
(current/discounted values) in additional graduate repayments from of student finance
existing borrowers. On top of this one-off amount there would be an since the 2012
additional £0.9 billion for each £15 billion of loans to new students. 10 24F
reforms. Grants
Under Option 2 only the amount for new students (put at £1.0 billion would be ended,
per £15 billion of loans) would apply. 11 25F
the fee cap raised
and the loan
The Government published its response to the consultation in repayment
November 2015. 12 It accepted that most responses did not support
26F
threshold would be
freezing the threshold, but said it would implement its preferred option frozen –making the
–freeze the repayment threshold for all post-2012 borrowers at £21,000 system less
until at least April 2021. An equality analysis was produced alongside ‘progressive’.
the consultation response. 13 This looked at the impact on different types
27F
of ‘protected characteristics’ such as age, sex, disability and ethnicity.
The Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015 made some
headline announcements about funding paid through the funding
council, the extension of maintenance loans to part-time students and
new loans for Master’s degrees. It also announced that the discount
rate applied to loans would be reduced to 0.7% and set the spending
totals for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills which will
eventually feedthrough to annual funding allocations for higher
education.
The notes on maintenance support and loans look at the impact of
these changes on students/graduates. Some estimates of the impact on
public spending are included in the next sections which look at each
main element in turn.
1.4 Prime Minister's October 2017
announcement
On 1 October 2017 the Prime Minister announced14 that there would be
changes to the student finance system including:
• freezing tuition fees at the 2017/18 level of £9,250
• raising the student loans repayment threshold from £21,000 to 25,000
• a review of the student finance system
10 This volume of loans is approximately the amount that might be lent to each cohort
of new students.
11 Consultation on freezing the student loan repayment threshold, BIS (July 2015)
12 Freezing the student loan repayment threshold Government response to the
consultation on freezing the student loan repayment threshold, BIS (November 2015)
13 Freezing the student loan repayment threshold. Equality analysis, BIS (November
2015)
14 “Theresa May pledges help for young on student fees and housing”, BBC News, 1
October 2017Number 7393, 17 July 2018 8
The Secretary of State gave more detail on the changes to student
finance in a Written Statement on 9 October:
• The lower repayment threshold will increase to £25,000 from the start of
financial year 2018-19.
Changes
• The upper repayment threshold will be increased at the same time announced by the
• Both thresholds will be adjusted annually in line with average earnings. PM in October 2017
• These changes apply to borrowers taking out post-2012 loans. Around reverse some of the
600,000 borrowers would benefit from lower repayments in 2018-19 2015 decisions and
make each £ of
This means that as well as the one-off increase in the threshold these student loans more
changes reverse the earlier policy to freeze the threshold. expensive to the
The freeze on fee levels means a small cut in the amount the public sector
Government expects to lend as fee loans and a drop in fee income for
institutions (compared to the earlier policy). Raising and unfreezing the
threshold has a greater impact on the public finances in the longer term
as it cuts the loan repayments and hence increases the subsidy element
or cost of loans. More detail is given in the section on loans in section
2.2 and in the briefing paper Prime Minister's announcement on
changes to student funding.
On 19 February 2018, the Prime Minister announced that there would
be a “wide-ranging review into post-18 education” led by Philip Augar.
The review is to look at how future students will contribute to the cost
of their studies, including “the level, terms and duration of their
contribution.” More detail on the review can be found at: Review of
Post-18 Education and Funding
2. Public spending on higher
education in England
There are three main elements of public spending on higher education
–direct funding through the Higher Education Funding Council for
England (HEFCE) which covers both teaching and research, student
maintenance grants and student loans. HEFCE closed in March 2018 and
its role in funding teaching was taken over by the Office for Students
and funding research by Research England
2.1 Direct funding through the funding
council
The Secretary of State writes to the funding councils around the turn of
each year to set out funding, priorities, student numbers and related
matters for the following financial year. Occasionally these letters cover
more than one year and sometimes revised versions are published. The
most recent funding letters for the Office for Students and Research
England were published in February and March 2018 respectively.9 Higher education funding in England
Funding for teaching 2018-19, research was for 2018-19 and indicative
totals for 2019-20. Earlier funding letters from the mid-1990s onwards
can be found at: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/funding/annallocns/Archive/
The following table summarises this 8
FUNDING COUNCIL ALLOCATIONS
funding and estimated fee loans from the £ billion 2016-17 prices
latest funding letters. Changes to the 6 Teaching Research Capital Other
main elements in real terms are
illustrated opposite. More details are 4
given in the table at the end of this
2
paper.
0
2010-11 2012-13 2014-15 2016-17 2018-19Number 7393, 17 July 2018 10
Total levels of funding for HEFCE fell even before FUNDING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS
£ billion 2016-17 prices
the 2012 reforms came in. Cuts in funding were
in the £0.8-0.9 billion range from 2011-12 to 12
2015-16. After this, with almost all students on
the new funding regime, cuts have been much 10
Fees
smaller.
8
The large increase in fee income (from home
and EU students) meant that the total funding 6
Funding councils
for institutions through both sources increased
in real terms in each year to 2016-17. It was then 4
broadly maintained in the latest two years. This,
2
and the balance between the two sources, is
shown opposite. 0
2010-11 2012-13 2014-15 2016-17 2018-19
FUNDING FOR THE HE SECTOR IN ENGLAND
£ billion cash
2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19
Revised Revised Revised Revised Initial Revised Budget Budget Budget
Recurrent grants
Teaching 4.6 3.8 2.9 1.9 1.7 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.4
Research 1.5 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.7 1.7 1.7
Capital 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.5
Other 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.2
Total via funding
councils 6.7 5.9 5.0 4.1 4.0 3.9 3.7 3.6 3.6
Estimated regulated
fee income 2.6 4.2 5.6 7.0 8.1 8.0 8.6 9.0 9.0
Funding council and
fee income 9.3 10.1 10.6 11.1 12.1 11.9 12.3 12.5 12.7
Sources: Higher education funding for 2017-18, and earlier, BIS; Reductions to HEFCE teaching grant for 2014-15 and 2015-16 academic years, BIS;
Strategic Guidance to the Office for Students –Priorities for Financial Year 2018/19, DBEIS; Science and Research -Funding and priorities, DBEIS
Teaching
The table above shows that direct recurrent funding for teaching fell by
£830 million or 20% in real terms in 2012-13. This was the first year that
included some students under the 2012 funding arrangements. This
funding is in financial years, which precede academic years, so in effect
it only includes the reduced funding for just over one half of one year of
students under the new arrangements. Further cuts of around
£950 million were made in 2013-14 and 2014-15 and £250 million in
2015-16.
The initial 2015-16 total was 66% below the below the 2011-12 level in
real terms. The subsequent cuts (revised figures) meant it was around11 Higher education funding in England
69% below the 2011-12 total. In 2015-16 almost all full-time
undergraduates came under the post-2012 funding arrangements. This
means that later cuts in funding for teaching have been more modest.
The 2018-19 indicative total was 73% below the 2011-12 figure in real
terms.
The impact on what the funding councils planned to distribute up to
academic year 2018/19 is given later in this paper.
Spending Review 2015 announced that the teaching grant would be cut
by £120 million in cash terms by 2019-20, but within this reduced total
funding for high cost subjects will be protected in real terms. The
student opportunity fund, which supports institutions in their efforts to
widen access, will be cut by “…up to half.” 15 30F
Research
The 2012 changes in university funding directly affect teaching rather
than research. Plans were set out for each year to 2014-15 soon after
the 2010 CSR was published. The earlier table shows that recurrent
funding for research broadly maintained its cash value up to 2014-15.
The 2013 Spending Round kept the total resource (recurrent) science
budget for 2015-16, which includes funding for Research Councils and
other areas, at the same cash level as earlier years. Total capital funding
for science was increased, partially reversing earlier cuts. 16 31F
Spending Review 2015 announced that total science funding, which
includes HEFCE research grant and funding paid through the Research
Councils, will be protected in real terms to the end of the (then) current
Parliament. 17 32F
Research funding paid to higher education institutions through HEFCE
and now Research England funds the research capacity and
infrastructure –such as the salaries of permanent academic staff,
premises, libraries etc- while the Research Councils fund specific
research projects.
Other
The 2014-15 letter incorporated the cut to the National Scholarship
Programme announced in the Spending Round 2013, ended separate
funding for the Access to Learning Fund (which provided hardship
payments), directed HEFCE to combine this with its student opportunity
funding 18 for institutions and also included the implications of the
35F
Autumn Statement 2013 for funding through HEFCE. The 2015-16 letter
15 Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ settlement at the Spending Review
2015, 25 November 2015
16 Spending Round 2013, HM Treasury
17 Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ settlement at the Spending Review
2015, 25 November 2015
18 The student opportunity stream is meant to support institutions’ efforts to widen
participation and allow then to meet the higher costs of supporting disadvantaged
and under-represented students through their coursesNumber 7393, 17 July 2018 12
confirmed earlier allocations. The ‘other’ line in 2018-19 includes
additional funding for research linked to specific objectives rather than
general research funding grant.
2.2 Student loans
There are two types of student loans –fees and maintenance. Full-time
home and EU students on qualifying courses can take out a loan to
cover the tuition fees for their course. From 2012 new part-time
students on courses with an intensity of 25% or greater became eligible
for loans. Maintenance loans for part-time students will be introduced
in 2018/19. Master’s loans for postgraduates of up to £10,000 were
introduced in 2016/17 and Doctoral loans will be introduced in 2018.
These loans are intended to contribute towards fees and living costs.
Maintenance loans are available to home students only. The amount
someone can take out as a maintenance loan depends on their
household income, where they live and where they study. Maintenance
loans entirely replaced by grants for new students from 2016/17. The
value of student maintenance support gives more details and Student
loan statistics gives more background about the system.
The Government has forecast that the total value of new loans to higher
education students in England will increase from £14.9 billion in 2017-18
to £19.7 billion in 2022-23. 19 This increase is driven by replacing grants
55F 20
with loans, but also by the expansion of loans to cover maintenance for
part-time students, fee loans for master’s and doctoral courses and
replacing nursing bursaries with loans.
Subsidy elements of loans and loan accounting The accounting
The earlier table gave government estimates of the face value of fee treatment of
loans to English students and EU students studying at English student loans
institutions. There are different treatments of the costs associated with means they are not
loans in different parts of the Government’s accounts. The subsidy included in the
element of loans made in any one year -the present value of the deficit when they
amount not expected to be repaid- can be viewed as the ‘true’ are made, but do
economic cost of loans in the longer term. The Department for count in full
Education includes an estimate of this in its accounts. It is what they towards the
expect the subsidy element to be and is viewed as the permanent costs national debt.
of the loan to the taxpayer. This system is known as resource
accounting and budgeting (RAB) or accruals accounting and has been
in place in the public sector for more than a decade. The subsidy
element is calculated as the face value of loans made in any one year
less the discounted or present value of future repayments. This can be
thought of as the amount of money lent to students that the
Government does not expect to get back. It is frequently expressed as a
proportion of the value of loans, the so-called RAB charge.
19 Student loan forecasts, England: 2017 to 2018, DfE
20 Economic and fiscal outlook – March 2017, OBR (table 2.49)13 Higher education funding in England
Spending on student loans (cash outlays) is classed as a financial
transaction and not included in the Government’s main measure of
public spending on services. It therefore does not count towards the
fiscal deficit21. Similarly, loan repayments have no impact on this fiscal
aggregate either. Under this measure only loan interest and write-offs
are counted. The interested added to the outstanding debt on loans
counts as income and write-offs as expenditure.
The impact of student loans in the national debt22 is, broadly speaking,
the opposite of that on the deficit. Loan outlays increase the debt by
their face value, loan repayments reduce the debt also by their face
value. Interest and write-offs have no impact.
Loans therefore are treated very differently in the fiscal deficit and
national debt. The difference is really one of timing with the costs being
recorded upfront in the debt and only after they are written off (after 30
years for most) in the deficit. Overall costs for a cohort of loans will
eventually be the same under each method. In July 2018 the Office for
Budget Responsibility published a paper that looked at the ‘fiscal
illusions’ resulting from the different accounting treatment of loans in
government accounts and made suggestions for alternative
approaches.23 The Office for National Statistics, which publishes public
finance statistics, is also looking at potential improvements to the way
loans are recorded.
Estimates of the resource costs of loans from
2012
Pre-2015 reforms
The Government made estimates of the percentage RAB rate on new
loans from 2012 when it published proposals for changes to funding.
These are discussed in some detail in Changes to higher education
funding and student support in England from 2012/13. The estimated
RAB rate on new loans was put at ‘around 30%’, but subsequently
increased to ‘around 35%’ 24 then to 35%-40% 25, revised upwards again
36F 37F
to ‘around 40%’ 26 and later to ‘around 45%’. 27 These increases were
38F 39F
largely due to changes in economic forecasts, particularly on earnings. 28 40F
These less optimistic forecast reduce the expected cash value of
21 Public Sector Net Borrowing
22 Public Sector Net Debt
23 Working paper No.12 Student loans and fiscal illusions, OBR July 2018
24 HC Deb 4 July 2013 c775-6W
25 HC Deb 9 December 2013 c5W
26 HC Deb 19 December 2013 c780W
27 HC Deb 20 March 2014 c706W
28 The OBR links lower earnings growth to “…much weaker-than-expected growth in
productivity.” They also note that the data now used for modelling repayments,
including that from the Student Loans Company, have widened the modelled
distribution of earnings among graduates. This wider distribution cuts expected
repayments, even if average earnings remain unchanged. Fiscal Sustainability Report
– July 2014, OBRNumber 7393, 17 July 2018 14
repayments and or delay when they will be made. Other factors behind
the increase in the RAB rate include the higher than expected level of
average tuition fee loans, a change to the timing of repayment
threshold uprating, lower assumed repayments from the extra students
who start higher education because the numbers cap is lifted 29 and 41F
improvements to the Governments loan repayment model which is
used to forecast repayments and hence calculate the resource costs of
loans. 30 Much more detail on these increases are given in the paper HE
42F
in England from 2012: Funding and finance Government
Post 2015 reforms estimates of the
subsidy value of
The different elements of the changes to student finance announced in
loans have varied
the Summer Budget all have an impact on student loan outlays and the
greatly due to
RAB rate/charge. Replacing maintenance grants with loans will increase
changes in
the cash amount loaned. This on its own would increase the RAB rate,
modelling and
but as the increase will be largely for those from lower income
policy. The latest
backgrounds –which is linked to some extent to lifetime earnings- the
are 40-45% of the
increase will be larger still as a smaller amount is expected to be repaid.
face value of loans
Freezing the repayment threshold will increase repayments and hence
cut the RAB rate. Allowing some institutions to charge above £9,000 will
increase tuition fee loan amounts and increase the RAB rate slightly.
Reviewing the discount rate applied to loans is meant to bring this in
line with the Government’s long-term cost of borrowing. It has no
impact on loan outlays or the cash value of repayments and hence no
impact on borrowers. It is an accounting change that has a large impact
on the RAB rate, cutting it substantially.
The Government’s estimates of the savings from freezing the
repayment threshold from 2016 were set out earlier; £3.2 billion
additional repayments from existing borrowers plus £0.9 billion for each
£15 billion of loans to new students. It did not include any estimate of
the combined savings from the Summer 2015 ‘package’ in Spending
Review 2015, but a subsequent written answer estimated that the RAB
charge would be reduced to 20-25%. 31 53F
Post October 2017 announcement
The Government has estimated that the changes to the loan repayment
thresholds will increase the RAB charge rate from “…around 30%”, ie.
somewhat higher than their earlier estimates, “…to between 40% and
45%”.32 This latest range, 40-45% is broadly equivalent to the estimate
from before the 2015 reforms despite the cut in the discount rate used
to calculate this figure.33
29 HC Deb 10 December 2013 c130W
30 These are summarised in the National Audit Office report Student loan repayments
31 PQ HL 5098 [on Mature students: Loans] 18 January 2016
32 PQ 116250 [On Students: Loans] 1 December 2017
33 In other words the actual expected cash flows are fiscally ‘worse’ under the latest
arrangements, but the lower discount rate counteracts this in accounting terms15 Higher education funding in England
June 2018 estimates
The Department for Education published new estimates of the RAB
charge alongside various forecasts connected with loans in Student loan
forecasts, England: 2017 to 2018. These gave different estimates for
different types of loan made in financial year 2017-18:
• Full-time: 45%
• Part-time: 40%
• Master’s 0%
The estimates for full-time and part-time students under are in line with
the earlier 40-45% range. Because the total value of loans to full-time
students is so much larger a weighted average of the two is 44.9%.
Master’s loans are made under different terms34 and this, alongside the
smaller total value of loans and expected higher earnings, means that
the RAB charge is much lower. In fact the calculated rate from the
model and standard discount rate is -6%, but under Government
accounting rules RAB charges “…cannot be negative”.35
Impact of loans on the national ADDITIONS TO NET DEBT FROM STUDENT LOANS,
% of GDP
debt 12%
10%
The latest Office of Budget Responsibility
8%
projections of the impact of all (UK) loans on the
national debt are illustrated in the chart 6%
opposite. These were made before the October 4%
2017 announcement on changes to the 2%
repayment thresholds. The (cumulative) addition 0%
to debt increases rapidly from 4.5% of GDP to a 2016-17 2026-27 2036-37
Source: Fiscal Stability Report 2017, OBR
2046-47 2056-57 2066-67
peak of 11.1% around 2040 before falling back to
below 10% in the 2050s. Additions to national debt are net lending
(loan outlays minus repayments) plus accrued interest and write offs.
Box 1: Loan repayment models
Government estimates of the RAB cost of student loans are calculated using a student loan repayment
model. This makes long term forecasts of repayments for individual borrowers and is highly complex.
There is a substantial amount of uncertainty about future repayment levels which are connected in
large part to earnings growth forecasts. The paper HE in England from 2012: Funding and finance looks
in depth at changes/improvements to the loan model over time.
The BIS accounts give an idea of the sensitivity of the model to assumptions about inflation and
earnings. If RPI were around 4% higher (or lower) than forecast (ie. 3.1% rather than 3.0%) then the
34 Plan 3 repayment system. Borrowers repay 6% of any income above the threshold
(currently £21,000). Interest is RPI+ 3%. Repayments are made alongside (in addition
to) any undergraduate or Plan 2 loans.
35 Student loan forecasts, England: 2017 to 2018, DfE (Table 4)Number 7393, 17 July 2018 16
value of post-2012 loans held would be 1% or £225 million lower (or higher) than the model suggests.
This difference is said to be larger than the inherent random variation in the model. Similarly if earnings
growth were 2.4% higher than forecast (ie. 4.6% rather than 4.5%) then the value of post-2012 loans
held would be 1% or £225 million higher than the model suggests (and vice versa).36
A simplified version of the model used to produce estimates for their accounts was made public to
inform debate around the changes to funding in 2012. An updated version of the publicly available
model was made available in January 2014. This model was revised and updated in June 2014 and in
July 2015.
2.3 Student support
Spending on student maintenance grants37 was just under £1.3 billion in
academic year 2010/11 and increased in cash terms in each subsequent
year to just over £1.6 billion in 2015/16.38 It overtook funding for
teaching and for research (both via HEFCE) as the most important single Summer budget 2015
source of direct39 public expenditure on higher education in 2015/16. announced that for
With research funding protected and support for teaching reduced to new students from
high cost and priority subjects this was the one remaining area where 2016/17 loans would
substantial savings to direct public expenditure could be made. entirely replace
In his Summer Budget 2015 the Chancellor announced that grants and the total
maintenance grants would end for new students from 2016/17 and be maintenance support
replaced by loans. The Government estimated that abolishing grants available would be
and replacing them with loans for new students from 2016 could save increased for
£2.5 billion (cumulatively) by 2020-21. 40 Provisional data for academic students from lower
and middle income
60F
year 2016/17 showed the amount awarded was £1.05 billion; a drop of
almost £0.6 billion or 36%.41 Early data for 2017/18 (up to mid- households
November) indicates a further fall to £0.55 billion42
2.4 Overall public spending
Overall spending levels (including the subsidy element of loans) up to
2015-16 are given in HE in England from 2012: Funding and finance.
The shift in expenditure away from direct funding in the period from
2010 to 2016 was marked. Overall spending changed little in cash terms
as higher loan subsidy amounts outweighed cuts in funding for
teaching.
36 Annual Report and Accounts 2015-16, BIS
37 Includes special support grants
38 Student support for higher education in England 2016, SLC. (Table 2)
39 Excludes loan funding which is indirect.
40 Summer Budget 2015, HM Treasury
41 Student Loans Company, Student Support for Higher Education in England 2017:
academic year 2016/17 payments, 2017/18 awards (Table 2)
42 ibid (Table 6.3)17 Higher education funding in England
Up to 2018-19
HE SPENDING PLANS
Estimated overall spending levels up to 2018-19 are given £ billion
opposite. They include the subsidy element or economic Grants
10
cost of loans. For this chart an estimated RAB charge of and other
44.9% has been applied to loans in each year.43 Lower 8
estimate s were made before the Prime Minister’s
announcement of changes to thresholds, but as the chart Student 6
loans
looks at lending made each year (and repaid over the
following 30 years under the new terms) the current 4
higher rate has been applied. Cuts in maintenance grants
Research
have been projected forward and converted to financial 2
year figures. The funding data council data is that shown Teaching
in the earlier table. 0
2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19
The main pattern over these years is the shift from
(maintenance) grants to loans. The real value of total public spending
falls slightly in real terms (on this basis) in 2017-18. There is a larger fall
in 2018-19 of around 6% in real terms as spending on grants continues
to fall. After 2018-19 we would expect no major change in the real value
of these figures without any further policy changes, RAB charge
revisions or unexpected patterns in student numbers
3. Funding for institutions from
the funding councils
Links to details of final allocations from the funding council to individual
institutions are given below:
• 2012/13
• 2013/14
• 2014/15
• 2015/16
• 2016/17
• 2017/18
2018/19 allocations from the two new funding bodies can be found at:
• Office for Students
• Research England
43 Plan 2 loans for full-time and part-time HE students only.Number 7393, 17 July 2018 18
FUNDING FOR THE HE SECTOR
Funding council allocations and tuition fee income, England
£ million cash £ million 2016-17 pricesa
2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19
Revised Revised Revised Revised Revised Revised Revised Revised
allocation allocation allocation allocation Initial Revised Budget Budget Budget allocation allocation allocation allocation Initial Revised Budget Budget Budget
Recurrent grants
Teaching 4,645 3,815 2,861 1,915 1,671 1,521 1,539 1,457 1,388 5,034 4,050 2,986 1,970 1,671 1,521 1,539 1,430 1,342
Research 1,549 1,587 1,573 1,573 1,573 1,573 1,695 1,716 1,653 1,679 1,685 1,642 1,618 1,573 1,573 1,695 1,685 1,599
Total 6,194 5,402 4,434 3,488 3,244 3,094 3,234 3,173 3,041 6,712 5,735 4,628 3,589 3,244 3,094 3,234 3,115 2,941
Additional funding 0
Voluntary matched giving 63 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 68 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Access to Learning Fund 40 37 37 0 0 0 0 0 0 43 39 39 0 0 0 0 0 0
National Scholarship Programme 0 50 100 50 0 0 0 0 0 0 53 104 51 0 0 0 0 0
Postgraduate provision 0 0 0 0 50 50 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 50 50 0 0 0
Additional research fundingb 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 168 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 162
Capital funding
Teaching 95 90 79 154 300 300 140 150 150 103 96 82 158 300 300 140 147 145
Research 204 195 251 286 303 303 338 203 336 221 207 262 294 303 303 338 199 325
Total 299 286 330 440 603 603 478 353 486 324 304 344 453 603 603 478 347 470
All funding for institutions via
funding councils 6,709 5,893 5,014 4,091 4,010 3,860 3,712 3,552 3,695 7,270 6,256 5,234 4,209 4,010 3,860 3,712 3,487 3,574
Estimated fee income from
home/EU students subject to
regulated feesc 2,600 4,200 5,600 7,000 8,100 8,000 8,600 9,000 9,000 2,818 4,459 5,845 7,202 8,100 8,000 8,600 8,836 8,703
Total for institutions via funding
councils and regulated fee
income 9,309 10,093 10,614 11,100 12,100 11,860 12,300 12,500 12,700 10,088 10,715 11,079 11,421 12,100 11,860 12,300 12,272 12,281
(a) Adjusted using March 2018 GDP deflators
(b) Includes contribution from GCRF, Connecting Capabilities Fund and uplift to Higher Education Innovation Fund
© Estimated as £9 billion in financial year 2018-19
Sources: Higher education funding for 2017-18, and earlier, BIS/HEFCE; Reductions to HEFCE teaching grant for 2014-15 and 2015-16 academic years, BIS; Strategic Guidance to the Office for Students – Priorities for Financial Year 2018/19, DBEIS; Science and Research -
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